Hungarian Stuffed-Under-the-Skin Chicken

Alfred's Delicatessen in "the Village" was favored for years by Rice students and professors. Sadly, it is no more. I was a picky eater from day one, and if I didn't like what was served I just didn't eat. Smoking was more fun, anyway. Yes, those were the times. .

I was from Colorado, in those days not a culinary destination, especially the northeast corner, still not by my reckoning. I had never eaten "real" pizza. The list of stuff I wouldn't touch was as long as the Mississippi River. And my friends and I visited Alfred's. I didn't know Jewish food from Adam, but I did know that the sandwiches on rye bread heaped with meat were the best I ever ate. Pastrami, corned beef, roast beef. Yum. A tiny dish of ripe olives (not out of a can) came with each order. Nirvana! A scoop of potato salad, one of the many things I didn't eat, also accompanied the sandwich. The food there was so good that one day I tasted the potato salad. Not bad. Next time I ate a bit more. Pretty good, actually. I became a potato salad eater. And a sardine eater. I ripped thru Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Italian, French, trying more and more foods. But Alfred's was king.

When my folks came to town I took them to Alfred's. We ordered something I couldn't afford on my own, Chicken with the stuffing under the skin. Nirvana, paradise and heaven! An epiphany! Lordy, was it good!

I graduated and left town and never saw it on any menu ever again. Never read a recipe for it It was gone, back in the murky past, but always remembered.

Today the New York Times, in an article about Jewish food, printed the recipe. It was Hungarian! Who knew? I can't wait to make it. I'll even buy some Challah bread, because I want it to be authentic. Go to their website if you are curious. www.nytimes.com/dining.

It can't be as good as I remember, can't it? I'll buy a nice kosher chicken and hope for the best. The second Christmas present of the season, a Jewish recipe. Raise a glass to Alfred's Deli in the Village in Houston, to the memories and the wonderful food and the vast broadening of a young ladies food tastes.